Truck Stop Murder Victim Was Shot Several Times

April 03, 1988|by RON DEVLIN, The Morning Call

Donna Marie Daniels, the Allentown woman found murdered in her car last Sunday at a New Jersey truck stop, was shot several times in the head, according to a document filed by the Hunterdon County medical examiner.

The cause of death is listed as "multiple gunshot wounds to the head" in a death certificate signed Dr. Walter Uhlman, the county medical examiner who performed the autopsy.

Although the certificate does not say how many times Daniels was shot, it is the first official indication that the 35-year-old woman suffered more than one wound.

Neil S. Cooper, the Hunterdon County prosecutor investigating the case, has declined to say how many times Daniels was shot. He has also declined to reveal the caliber of the weapon or to say whether it has been recovered by police.

An Iowa truck driver found the body at 2 p.m. in the victim's 1972 Chrysler, which was parked in an unpaved lot at the rear of the Hunterdon Truck Center, a refueling facility just off Interstate 78 at Bloomsbury.

The New Jersey state police have launched an intensive investigation into the crime. The department'sMajor Crimes Unit has set up a command post in the Bloomsbury police department.

A team of about a dozen investigators, including experts in sex crimes, are looking into the murder.

Detective sergeant Robert Scott declined comment on the investigation. He said people with information on the murder should contact the New Jersey State Police at 201-689-3100.

Cooper indicated that investigators believe Daniels, a prostitute who worked the Hunterdon and Kuhnsville truck stops, was murdered at the scene.

The prosecutor would not reveal the exact day or time of death, except to say that Daniels was dead for "a few" days before her body was discovered.

But there are indications the murder took place sometime on the Friday before the body was found.

Starr Swartz, who lived across the street from Daniels in the Alexandria Gardens apartment complex in South Allentown, said she saw the victim at 8:10 a.m. Friday in Allentown.

"She was in her car when I was taking my son to school," said Swartz, who recalled Daniels honking the horn.

But Charles Crosson, who works the fuel desk at the Hunterdon Truck Center, said he saw a car fitting the description of Daniels' at the rear of the center's lot between 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. Friday.

Crosson was checking the levels of diesel fuel in underground tanks when he spotted a dark, two-door car parked in the same spot where Daniels' car was found two days later. He said the car was parked behind a vacant garage and could only be seen from a certain section of the lot.

He saw no signs of activity around the car, but said it was not unusual to see cars parked at the rear of the lot. People who race homing pigeons, he said, often release their birds there.

Crosson said he was not certain if the car was there when he closed the station Friday evening. The center, which sells diesel fuel to truckers, was closed Saturday and Daniels' body was discovered before it reopened at 4 p.m. Sunday.

Daniels was found only 25 yards from the neighboring 76 Truck Stop, a busy refueling station and rest stop for truckers. Her car was parked near a row of trucks at the rear of the truck stop lot.

Allentown police identified Daniels, who also used the name Watson, as having a record of prostitution-related offenses. In 1982, she was arrested 10 times for prostitution and related offenses, police records show.

A truck mechanic in in Kuhnsville said Daniels used the handle "Blondie" when working the truck stops.

"She'd sit behind the Mobile station and talk to the truckers on channel 19," said the mechanic. "You could hear her on the CB."

He did not recall when he last heard "Blondie" on the citizens band radio, but said she was a regular who worked the Kuhnsville truck stop for years.

Last November, Daniels was allegedly kidnapped and assaulted by an Indiana trucker who picked her up at the Kuhnsville truck stop. State police at Fogelsville reported she was held against her will for eight hours before escaping in the Hamburg area.

Steven Howard Cook, 32, of Moors Hill R.2, was to face trial in Lehigh County on charges of kidnapping and assault. Similar charges, including deviate sexual intercourse, were filed in Berks County.

With the only witness to the alleged crime dead, state police at Hamburg dropped the charges last week after consultation with the Berks County district attorney. Lehigh County authorities have yet to decide whether or not to go to trial.

Swartz, a beautician who did Daniels' hair, said the victim was a friendly person who loved children.

"She was very nice. She'd do anything for you," she said.

Swartz was shocked, but not surprised by the murder. She said Daniels had told her she worked the truck stops.

"I don't care what a person's profession is. Nobody deserves to be killed that way," she said. "It's a shame she had to die so tragically, so young."